Janet's Homemade Chicken Plucking Machine [video]

This video of a homemade chicken plucking machine in action is pretty astounding, in that it takes about 90 seconds to fully defeather a bird. It was built using the advice from Herrick Kimball's Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker (Amazon), the book that makes the dream of owning a mechanical plucker an "affordable reality." Not the for the faint of heart.

Video: Janet's Whizbang Chicken Plucker In Action!

Amazon's description of the book:

Every small-farm and backyard poultry producer dreams of a machine that will do the nasty job of feather plucking. With the publication of "Anyone Can Build A Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker" that dream can now be an affordable reality.

This book is a well organized and complete how-to guide to building a Whizbang feather plucking machine. A Whizbang plucker will pick the feathers off chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese in a matter of seconds. Just turn the machine on, drop one or more scalded birds into the tub and watch as rubber fingers flail the feathers off (whithout damaging the bird's skin).

Every component needed to make the machine is thoroughly discussed and the construction process is carefully detailed, step by step. There are 62 clear drawings. There is also a chapter dedicated to the subject of alternative construction options, as well as a chapter about other equipment used to process poultry. Mail order sources for parts are listed in the Resources chapter at the back of the book.

Commercial tub pluckers cost $2,000+ but this book tells the reader how to build a comparable unit for $500 or less. A Whizbang plucker will dutifully pluck thousands of birds for years to come.

3 Comments

I've plucked over a thousand homegrown birds (chickens & turkeys) with the Whizbang plucker over the last ten years and if the birds are properly scalded prior to plucking, they pluck fast and clean with no damage to the skin or meat.

Some people think the plucker will bruise the meat but that never happens because you need blood to bruise but the blood is drained out of the bird prior to scalding and plucking.

This plucker is nothing new. It is just a homemade version of the very expensive commercial models. Automatic plucking machines like this were developed by Andrew Toti and Kent Tomlinson back in the 1940's. In fact, the Kent C-25 rubber plucker fingers that are commonly used in these pluckers today were developed by Tomlinson way back then.

It's a great machine and a great little video (one of many Whizbang plucker movies on YouTube).

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